Cardinal asks Chicago priest who mocked Clinton to take leave

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

CHICAGO, (AFP) — The archbishop of Chicago has asked a priest who mocked Hillary Clinton's White House bid to take a couple of weeks leave from his pastoral duties, the Catholic diocese said Tuesday.

Father Michael Pfleger's racially-tinged remarks were made at the former church of Clinton rival Barack Obama, who sealed the Democratic nomination for the presidency Tuesday.

In a guest appearance made in the same pulpit as inflammatory sermons of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, which pitched the Obama campaign into turmoil earlier this year, Pfleger mocked Clinton for appearing to cry days before the New Hampshire primary in January.

He said she was on the verge of tears because "there is a black man stealing my show."

"She always thought, 'This is mine. I'm...